SERVICES

PPS has one of the most complete and innovative prepaid platforms available in Europe today. We have an in house, multi lingual, multi currency processing platform that is entirely dedicated to the prepaid market. We regularly process millions of transactions for open loop¹, closed loop² and restricted access network (RAN) (also known as private label/filtered loop) programmes.

Our leading edge processing platform is designed to support many different transactions, from card generation through to expiry. We also offer full clearing and settlement services.

In addition to traditional closed and open loop cards, the PPS platform supports a vast array of loyalty, virtual cards and multi currency wallets, including non financial wallets for loyalty points and other non financial instruments.

PPS brings to its clients:
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‍Platform flexibility: our transaction processing platform is capable of handling all transaction types, including both full and partial redemption; it supports Mastercard®, ISO, APACS, XML web messaging and proprietary messaging formats where needed

‍Consistency for retailers: merchants can treat Mastercard® transactions in the same way as all other transactions

‍Built to banking standards: PPS is PCI level 1 DSS compliant and certified by Mastercard®

‍Compatibility with existing systems: we can work with proprietary formats and translate them into the appropriate messages within our platform

‍Service Availability: our platform operates 24/7, 365 days a year, to ensure peace of mind for our customers and their cardholders

‍Resilience: our primary and backup systems run simultaneously in order to ensure full redundancy of all data. This way, all of our data is mirrored across duplicate sites in real time, so that all systems contain identical information

‍Global reach: all of our solutions are multi currency and multi lingualIn addition to these transaction processing services, PPS is able to offer its clients an end to end service all under one roof. For more information about what we can offer and who we are, please visit our About Us section.

‍¹Open Loop: a card programme that is associated with an electronic payment network, such as Mastercard®, and honoured wherever this network is accepted.  

²Closed Loop: a card programme that is merchant specific and used for transactions exclusively at a particular merchant’s locations.

‍Direct Integration
‍In order to provide superior transaction processing alongside other value added services, PPS has integrated its processing platform with many clients and partners.To this end, we have developed a suite of APIs (application programming interfaces) to help clients’ systems communicate and interact with all of PPS’ core systems seamlessly. These APIs include:

Web services
Web authorisation
Batch file interface
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Mastercard®
‍PPS is a Mastercard® magnetic stripe, EMV and PayPass certified processor.  Many of our programmes use the Mastercard® network for redemption.  Mastercard® is accepted around the world at retail outlets and ATM machines, wherever the Mastercard® (or Maestro/Cirrus) sign is displayed. Mastercard® is currently accepted in more than 24.6m locations in more than 210 countries worldwide.For Mastercard®/Maestro badged and Mastercard® RAN products where the Mastercard®/Maestro badge is removed, we can offer Magstripe, EMV (Chip) or PayPass solutions for processing.

‍PayPass™
Developed by Mastercard®, PayPass™ enables cardholders to make everyday purchases quickly and safely with just a tap of a Mastercard® or Maestro® card on a contactless enabled device. In the UK, the contactless transaction is authorised for payment up to £25. For payments higher than this amount, the cardholder will be required to swipe or ‘dip’ the card and authorise the transaction by entering his or her PIN number.

PPS currently offers several contactless cards.

‍NFC
‍Near Field Communication (NFC) is a technology that allows a mobile phone to securely transmit and receive information wirelessly. NFC works in much the same way as a contactless card, but uses a mobile device rather than a card. NFC-enabled mobile phones can be used to pay for everyday purchases by tapping the phone on a contactless device at any Point of Sale (PoS) offering this payment option.The payment limitations of NFC are similar to those of contactless cards: for purchases up to £25, the payment can be made using the phone’s NFC functionality. For higher amounts, however, a PIN code will need to be entered onto the phone in order to authorise the transaction.

PPS currently offers a number of NFC-enabled programmes.

‍Custom Protocol
‍The PPS processing platform is extremely flexible and can work with a client’s preferred custom protocol, if desired. Tailor made protocols like these can often facilitate integration, interfaces, messaging, and agreed roles and responsibilities – or can simply be used to cater to a client’s preferred way of working.

APPLICATION & LOAD
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‍Application
‍PPS provides real time Know Your Customer (KYC) services as part of its comprehensive programme management. We also work with third parties to provide KYC, and can leverage, where applicable, a client’s/partner’s established KYC/Know Your Business (KYB) processes if these are already being conducted as part of the client’s/partner’s application process.

PPS also provides UK and European in store and online issuance as part of our application service.

‍Loading
‍PPS provides the following loading channels:Credit/debit cardIn store/online using direct integrationCorporate and batch loading

‍Cash load
‍PPS is seamlessly connected to most of the leading international providers of cash top up networks, including PayPoint, which has over 25,600 locations in the UK  and the Post Office, which has 11,800 locations in the UK.

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION AND DATA
‍PPS provides its clients with detailed insight into customer behaviour and card usage trends through several means, including automatic standard reports, management information reports and data feeds

E MONEY
‍PPS is regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and has a full e-money licence which is valid across Europe. PPS provides full compliance and regulatory support for its clients and is a principle Mastercard® member and BIN sponsor.

PPSs can issue cards in any country in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and wherever Mastercard® is accepted globally, including point of sale (POS), online and ATM withdrawals.

PPS holds funds that are associated with prepaid balances in strict accordance with all relevant e money regulations, and uses these funds to settle with relevant parties, including Mastercard® or other redemption partners where PPS has direct integration.

ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT & SERVICE IMPROVEMENT REVIEW
‍PPS provides a day to day commercial contact who works in partnership with our clients to introduce innovation and agree a product/enhancement roadmap for implementation. These commercial contacts will arrange regular account management discussions, coordinate on going service improvement reviews and will plan in strategic reviews with key stakeholders.  They will also facilitate any change requests from initial enquiry through to implementation and launch.As part of PPS’ account management approach, our clients will also be assigned an allocated service improvement manager who will work with the client and PPS’ account managers to focus on operational coordination and optimisation. In addition, all of our account managers routinely monitor all client Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and take action before an SLA is breached.We also pride ourselves on conducting quarterly service reviews on a consistent basis, in partnership with the account team, so that we can report on our performance against our agreed SLAs and address any operational concerns. As a result, we are able to improve any behaviour or processes that are not delivering a best in-class experience for our clients.
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
‍PPS provides clients with a dedicated project manager in order to deliver a complete end to end programme – within agreed timescales and on budget – throughout the entire project lifecycle, from initiation, definition and implementation through to testing, deployment and close down. Our project managers will coordinate all of the resources required from PPS and will also report to stakeholders on a regular basis.

All of PPS’ projects are managed in strict accordance with the governance and guidelines set out by leading industry frameworks.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT
P‍PS’ technical support team offers a 24/7 hotline for our clients and partners. In order to provide a superior service that meets our contractual service level agreements as well as industry leading frameworks, our technical team actively monitor our system availability for both our production and backup sites.Second line support is also available for incidents that require immediate escalation. Details of how our performance relates to our Service Level Agreement (SLA) can be provided to clients via the services delivery team

‍CARD PROCUREMENT
‍PPS can source and manage supplier relationships for any card programme, if required.  Alternatively, we can also help to guide our clients who would like to procure cards themselves. PPS works with most of Europe’s leading card manufacturers, including Allpay, CPI, Gemalto, Nitecrest, Oberthur and Thames Card.

PROGRAMME SERVICES
‍PPS provides a comprehensive suite of prepaid card services, ranging from expert programme design and on going programme support to full transaction processing, BIN procurement and e money compliance services. Our end to end supply chain management covers every element of your prepaid card solution.

DIGITAL ISSUANCE
‍PPS is connected to some of the industry’s best known digital providers, including:  Hemingways  CPI’s Myca  Cashstar  Transaction Wireless.

GIFT CARD MALL DISTRIBUTION
‍PPS has relationships with all of Europe’s leading gift card mall providers, including:

‍Incomm, the largest prepaid distributor in Europe, gives PPS’ clients access to more than 8,000 distribution locations throughout the UK – including Superdrug, Sainsbury’s, Argos, Clintons, and WHSmith – and over 6,000 retailers across Europe including: Auchan, Simply Market, Game and Gamestop in France;Carrefour, El Cortes Ingles, Gamestop and Game in Spain;Media Satrun, Gamestop and Karstadt in Germany;

The company also has a large range of distributors in Portugal, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

‍Blackhawk Network, an award-winning Gift Card Mall operator, provides ‍PPS’ clients with access to more than 6,000 distribution locations throughout the UK and ROI – including Tesco, Boots, Co-Op, Xtravision, and Superquinn – as well as more than 16,000 distribution retailers across Europe including:

Carrefour, Casino and Monoprix in France;Albert Heijn, Kruidvat in the Netherlands;Norgesgruppen, Narvesen, Expert in Norway;

The company also work closely with retail distributors in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark.Epay, a division of Euronet Worldwide, one of the largest electronic payments processor of prepaid mobile airtime around the world, provides PPS’ clients with access to 348,000 retailers in 35 countries including the UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Germany, Poland, Romania, Spain, Italy, Greece and North America.

Call Centre
‍Working with its partners, ‍PPS provides multi channel customer service support to its clients for all general cardholder queries, as well as card blocking, card cancellation, PIN reset, logging lost/stolen/damaged cards, providing card balances, transaction queries/disputes and fraud management.  ‍PPS works very closely with its clients in order to ensure that the branding of all of these services reflects their specific objectives and values.Alternatively, if a client would prefer to manage its customer services directly, we can also provide appropriate train the trainer training and on going support.

‍Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
‍IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is an automated telephone service that allows cardholders to self manage many different aspects of their card account, including activation, balance enquiries and to report lost and stolen cards. IVR can also be used to direct callers to a live customer service agent in order to assist with general customer service queries. As with all of our solutions, our IVR system can be branded by individual programme, according to our client’s needs.We can also provide clients with IVR phone numbers that include customised ‘menu managers’ that are linked to our own back office systems. This way, callers can be automatically routed to the relevant ‍PPS’ function, such as a balance enquiry or to request a telephone number for instant live customer service, when prompted.

‍SMS
‍Together with our partners, we give our customers the ability to use SMS (text messaging) in two important ways:
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‍Incoming SMS
‍An SMS ‘voucher request’ enables potential cardholders to pay for a card application using their mobile phone. Callers simply need to text a keyword (e.g. “Apply”) to a short code, and then an SMS is sent back to the cardholder (reverse charged to their mobile phone bill) with a voucher code that they can use in the online card application process.Callers can also use SMS to request their account balance by texting the word “BALANCE” along with their account number to a short code. Once this has been done, an SMS is sent back to the cardholder containing the account balance. To use this service, the caller’s mobile phone number must be registered against his or her card account.
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‍Outgoing SMS (and/or email)
‍Outgoing SMS are typically triggered by system events, such as balance changing alerts or to communicate regulatory information changes. An email or SMS can only be sent if the relevant information is registered against the user’s account, and it is the cardholder’s responsibility to keep this information up to date.

‍Quick Response (QR) Codes
‍PPS has developed a QR code for cardholders to check their balance easily

ACCOUNT SERVICING
‍My Account
‍My Account is an online portal/mobile app hosted by ‍PPS. Cardholders simply need to register their cards on My Account in order to get instant access to their card information in real time.Each cardholder has an associated account where his or her card balance is held.  The account can be topped up using My Account and the funds will then be available to spend using the card.Cardholders can register their details, check their balances and review all their transactions online or via the My Account app on their mobile device.  Personalised notifications can also be set up very easily. For example, cardholders can choose to set up a notification to warn them if the funds on a card are running low.  For added security, cards that are reported as lost, stolen or damaged can be instantly blocked to prevent fraudulent usage.My Account can also help to reduce operational costs for businesses significantly, since cardholders typically use these self service functions to manage their accounts themselves.‍

My Business Account
‍Our end to end solution for corporate programmes, combined with our My Business Account (MBA) web portal, provides programme managers with instant access to a unique gateway that allows them to manage all of the company’s prepaid card activity in one place.  MBA is therefore the ultimate tool for small to medium (SME) enterprises that are looking to organise, analyse, monitor and control their business expenses easily.The creation of a corporate Master Account enables the company to segregate funds between the business and its approved cardholders, and to fund cardholder accounts in seconds. The MBA portal also makes it easy to manage the Master Account and all other cardholders’ accounts online, in real time, including reviewing transactions history and exporting data.

‍CARDHOLDER SERVICES
‍PPS provides a full suite of self service options for all types of programmes, so that cardholders can always manage their own accounts easily. All of these services have been created by PPS and are managed and hosted in house.

The ‍PPS finance team works closely with our clients and partners on:

Reconciliation
Cash management
Float management
FX management
Load settlement from various third party channels
Redemption settlement with third parties including Mastercard®
Dispute resolution/chargebacks

All of our financial services are undertaken in accordance with the safeguarding requirements set out by our regulatory framework.

‍PPS takes information security extremely seriously; it is ingrained into the company’s culture, as evidenced by our dedicated and highly skilled security staff. Information security is not only operated as a business as usual activity, but is actively championed by all employees. The importance of this area is fully supported by the management team and at all levels of the business. As such, we make sure that every aspect of data communication is always performed in a secure way.

RISK MANAGEMENT
Our dedicated security team ensures that risk is managed effectively and in accordance with our business objectives. Furthermore, we are committed to creating, maintaining and testing robust business continuity strategies that will reduce the impact of any unforeseen events and safeguard our reputation in the event of a crisis. ‍PPS continually educates its employees in all of these areas in order to build a risk-aware culture across the organisation.
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PCI DSS
The major global payment brands require that every entity – including financial institutions, merchants and service providers – that stores, processes, or transmits payment card data, in any channel (including catalogue and online retailers, as well as brick-and-mortar businesses) must be in compliance with PCI-DSS.As a principal Mastercard® member, ‍PPS is required to validate and enforce its PCI DSS compliance and reporting requirements to the highest level, and we are committed to maintaining and improving our performance in this area each year. ‍PPS has been recognised as one of MasterCard®’s compliant service providers.

Above all else, we aim to provide a safe and trusted service and environment for our cardholders and business clients.

THIRD PARTY
To deliver a robust end-to-end solution for our clients, ‍PPS works closely with a wide range of third parties, including:
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Card manufacturers
Cash top-up networks
Gift Card mall providers
Digital issuers
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) service providers
SMS service providers
Banks

‍PRODUCT CONSULTANCY
We hold strategic review and brainstorming sessions with all of our clients in order to determine the prepaid solution that they need, whether it is B2B or B2C – or both. We also help them to create a detailed product roadmap, complete with any change management initiatives that are needed, where appropriate.

ADDED VALUE
Backed by both Mastercard® and Edenred, and with prepaid experience dating back to 2000, ‍PPS has extensive knowledge of the products and services available in this fast-growing market, and is committed to finding the best solution for our clients.

We actively recruit and educate our teams to understand our customers’ different sectors, ensuring that we can deliver a tailor-made solution that will deliver sustainable commercial success. We also give our customers advice on how to avoid the most common pitfalls in this area, so that they to make informed decisions about which products and services to choose.

‍PPS is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for the issuance of E money. We also comply with the following regulatory frameworks:
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‍Regularity Framework:
‍Electronic Money Directive (“EMD”)
Payment Services Directive (“PSD”)
Anti Money Laundering Directive
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”), Terrorism Act 2000, Counter Terrorism Act 2008EC
Wire Transfer Regulations
Co operation with Law Enforcement Agencies
The Data Protection Act (“DPA”) and various Information Security Standards
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (“PCIDSS”)

PPS also adheres to:
‍Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) supervision
Mastercard® bi-annual Fraud Management Program (“FMP”) review and RAMP review
Edenred Internal audit
Annual PCIDSS audit
Audits from agents as necessary

As part of this framework, ‍PPS will sometimes carry out audits on some of the processes performed by our clients, including compliance with anti money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations and appropriate customer due diligence.


E MONEY
‍PPS is regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and has a full e-money licence which is valid across Europe. PPS delivers full compliance and regulatory support to its clients and is a principle Mastercard® member and BIN sponsor.

PPS can issue cards in any country in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and wherever Mastercard® is accepted globally, including point-of-sale (POS), online and ATM withdrawals.

PPS holds funds associated with prepaid balances in strict accordance with all relevant e-money regulations and uses these funds to settle with relevant parties, including Mastercard® or other redemption partners where PPS has direct integration.